An Ankle Foot Orthosis, an AFO, is a medical device worn on the lower leg and foot to support the ankle and to hold the foot and ankle of a person, with impaired control on one side of his or her body, in the correct position to prevent drop-foot, a condition where the muscle that controls ankle dorsiflexion is too weak to raise the forefoot off the floor. A person who experiences a cerebral vascular accident, CVA, commonly referred to as a stroke, many times will afterward have a condition known as foot drop because one side of the person's body is affected either by weakness or paralysis resulting from the stroke. Because of the resultant lower extremity weakness or paralysis, the client is unable to independently maintain his or her foot in an appropriate position for a normal gait pattern. If the foot and ankle joint cannot be maintained in an appropriate position, at an angle of approximately 90 degrees when standing, the person cannot move his or her foot sufficiently to clear the surface of the floor during the swing phase of the gait cycle, thus creating a risk of falling. An AFO is typically prescribed to be worn by such a patient to maintain the appropriate foot and ankle position to facilitate a safe swing phase of the gait cycle thus reducing the risk of falls.
An AFO is commonly worn inside the shoe. Donning the AFO and shoe is quite problematic for a person with hemiplegia, total paralysis of the arm, leg and trunk on the same side of his or her body. That is also true for a sufferer of hemiparesis, marked weakness in one half of the body, impaired motor control and/or coordination, as well as for a person experiencing difficulty flexing his or her trunk due to various medical conditions or contraindications, for example hip precautions and thoracic and lumbar spinal precautions among other things.
The difficulty in donning an AFO on a lower extremity that is paralyzed or extremely weak while using only one hand arises because the patient requires the use of two hands to do so—one to hold the AFO steady and one to lift the affected lower extremity (leg) into it. At this time, a caregiver must be available to assist the client with donning the AFO. If a patient cannot don the AFO, he or she will not be able to safely ambulate (walk) within his or her environment, thus limiting his or her ability to participate in the daily activities of life.
Other AFO donning devices that are available to such patients do not provide an apparatus that allows a patient to stabilize and position an AFO and shoe in such a manner that a person can lift up his or her leg by the arm on the opposite side of the paralyzed side, usually by firmly grasping the pants or socks, and to place it into the AFO or shoe efficiently and safely. Other AFO donning devices do not provide for donning of an AFO at a variety of angles so that a patient can best choose which position he or she finds easiest to don the AFO. Other AFO donning devices also do not provide for the ability to don a patient's shoe by docking and stabilizing the shoe at an angle at which the patient can lift up his or her leg by the opposite agile arm.